Water shapes travel across India in very different ways: Dal Lake's houseboats and shikaras in Srinagar, Chilika's brackish lagoon and its Irrawaddy dolphins in Odisha, the pilgrim shoreline at Puri, and the high-altitude blue of Pangong Tso in Ladakh. Seasons vary sharply — the coast is best from October to March, while Himalayan lakes are reachable only in summer and freeze solid in winter.
